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September 18, 2010
Blight? Perceived problems with teens prompts unusually draconian Forest City Ratner policy (that is also over-enforced) at Atlantic Terminal Mall
Atlantic Yards Report
Oh, remember the Blight Study conducted for the Empire State Development Corporation that concluded that "the relatively low number of crimes reported at the shopping centers indicates that the high crime rate in sector 88E is more likely a result of crimes occurring on the project site than in Atlantic Center or Atlantic Terminal"?
I wrote in March 2009 that that was bogus, and a continuing stream of crime reports from those malls confirms that.
And there has been at least one major incident at the Atlantic Terminal mall, last November, when large numbers of teens--drawn by an “unauthorized flier being circulated on social networking sites,” according to a Buffalo Wild Wings executive--gathered at the mall and were forced to disperse, with two people being shot.
...
However, instead of having the malls declared blighted, mall owner Forest City Ratner (the Atlantic Yards developer) is cracking down with enforcement. The New York Times reports, in an article headlined Brooklyn Malls Try to Limit Youth Loitering:
Groups of four or more people under 21 years old and unaccompanied by a parent are not allowed to linger, lest they become a large unruly group or even an impromptu gathering known as a flash mob.
Students said they had noticed a zestful enforcement of the policy since the school year began.
Read the rest of the blog post to learn about contradictory enforcement policies and how plans for the crackdown in the mall were not shared anyone in the community, despite Forest City's claims otherwise.
Posted by steve at September 18, 2010 5:50 PM